The elimination of the French presence in the North American continent removed a major blockage that had been holding the English colonists back from expanding westward into the interior of the continent (land that was previously claimed by France).

The era of "salutory neglect" of the colonies by the British government was at an end when George III decided that the colonists should be taxed in order to pay for the costs that Britain incurred fighting the French in North America. These taxes on stamps, sugar and tea are what would eventually lead to the rallying cry of "taxation without representation" during the American revolution.

Some in the English parliament relied on a theory of virtual representation which stated that all subject of the British empire were represented by parliament, no matter who had elected the parliament. This was obviously not a popular idea in the American colonies.